The Tiger Lady
by PetuniaViolet
Summary: South African wildlife photographer Mikan Yukihira was chosen by three abandoned tiger cubs to be their progenitor and she gladly takes care and prepares them for the wildlife. Natsume Hyuuga, a tiger expert working for National Geographic takes interest in her and the cubs. Especially since one of the cubs is a white tiger. My second story so please no flaming! R&R please!
1. Three tiger cubs!

**The following article exists. Everything is real and not mine. The only thing that I changed was the fact that I wrote Mikan's name and changed the years of her career. The tigers really exist and every happened years ago. If you're interested on knowing everything about this story, search for the John Varty's article with the tigress Julie. It's beautiful.**

**I had this idea when watching his film on National Geographic. **

* * *

_South African wildlife photographer Mikan Yukihira had what she thought of as "__**the most wonderful **_moment_** in my 11-year career as a wildlife photographer.**__"_

_Mikan was with maverick South African conservationist John Varty. They were at Varty's Tiger Canyons, a South African tiger sanctuary outside Philippolis in the Free State. _

_For almost two weeks, Mikan, along with Varty, had been monitoring Julie, an 11-year-old pregnant female tiger. Born in a North American zoo, Julie had been rehabilitated into the wild at the South African tiger sanctuary._

_She was nearing the end of her three-and-a-half month gestation period._

_But with Julie, something remarkable happened. Having eyed the camera-toting photographer warily, many times, as she walked alongside Varty, "__**Julie stood up where she lay panting heavily, her belly bloated and distended with what would later transpire to be five tiny tigers, walked to me and rubbed her head over mine in a typical big cat greeting ritual, licked my face, then rolled on to my lap as I sat transfixed on the ground."**_

_With this stunning show of affection and acceptance, "__**the most wonderful moment in my 11-year career as a wildlife photographer**__" was the words that went though his mind, Mikan understood that Julie had welcomed her into her life._

_She didn't know then that her joy at the encounter would pale less than 24 hours later._

_Neither she nor Varty knew that when Julie gave birth, the Tiger Canyons tiger population would rocket from 12 to 17 — more tigers than are reputed to remain in the renowned flagship tiger reserve of Ranthambhore in India._

_**What blew Yukihira away, however, was how she was accepted by Julie.**_

_Mikan and Varty had hoped to capture the birth on film, but then Julie headed off and disappeared into some wild terrain. When they found her, she was inside the den she had chosen for the birth. It was there that Mikan had her overwhelming peak experience — when Julie let Varty and Mikan crawl inside the den and join her._

_In the early hours of Monday morning, kneeling alongside Mikan, "tigress Julie raised tired eyes to meet ours, and gave a simple brief 'chuff' — the typical tigers' communication vocalization."_

_Awed, Varty and Mikan saw five tiny cubs squirming at her side — including one white cub with black stripes. All, including the mother, appeared to be in fine health, and competition for the four teats the tigress has had begun._

"_**Seeing those tiny cubs was the most magical moment of my life,"**__ says Varty._

"_**If she raises the white one, it will be the only free-ranging wild white tiger on earth."**__ says Mikan._

"_**But first it must survive. Tigers have only four teats and it will be a struggle for Julie to raise five cubs. Realistically I can hope for three of the litter to make it, so the odds against the white one reaching maturity are stacked against It."**__ says Mikan._

_Fortunately, Mikan said at the time, "__**Tigress Julie is a wonderful hunter. She has accounted for more than 80 blue wildebeest and 60 blesbuck alone that I know of, so the cubs are in great care. But we will not interfere and will let nature take its course. If she abandons any of the cubs, or they fall behind in the struggle for milk from their mother, so be it. My goal is to raise wild tigers, and I want these cubs to be raised and integrated into the wild without human interference."**_

_With the birth of her quins, including a white cub, the question became: Five cubs and four teats. Would Runti, the smallest of the tigers, survive at Tiger Canyons?_

_When Julie abandoned those three cubs, one of them a rare white tiger, "__**Mikan Yukihira debated within herself at length on the advisability or otherwise of rearing those cubs herself,"**_

_She finally did take them into her care._

_"__**As evening falls, a huge thunder storm rolls in over Tiger Canyons three helpless, newly born tiger cubs, lie in the grass. Their mother has abandoned them and they are at the mercy of the elements. Reluctantly I decide to save them from the ravages of the storm. To leave them in the bush, will mean certain death. As I peer down into the thick bush, one cub shines out like a light, the other two are invisible.**_

_**How is it that in a litter of 3 cubs, one is white and two are normal?**_

_**To answer the question I must go back to 1951 in the province of Madya Pradesh in India. Here a white tiger male cub was captured. He was called Mohan.**_

_**When Mohan was mated with a normal tigress, all the cubs were a normal color. These cubs would have all carried the rare white gene although their color was normal. They are known as "white gene carriers.**_

_**Firstly, "Shine" is definitely not weaker than the two normal cubs and competes ferociously for milk and meat. Whether she is more aggressive, is too early to say." **__Mikan says in her public blog "Me and the BIG CATS."_

_Mikan lives now in Japan on her Uncle's mansion with her new "children" that she loves and cherishes at most. They are growing up quickly and Mikan fearlessly teaches them the needs to survive for that one day, when she releases the cubs back into the wild they can survive on their own and live a long life. _

_But the question is: Will Mikan one day find real love? Or she will be only content with raising tiger cubs instead of a husband?_

* * *

Mikan rolled her eyes after reading the last line of the newsletter.

"Did they really had to add that part?" she complained.

"They won't stop until you find a lover." Kazumi said while reading his newspaper.

"What now, are they my fairy godmother now? I don't need a husband!" she complained throwing her feet up on the couch.

Kazumi sighed and glanced at his niece. "Mikan, you're a beautiful woman and you're twenty nine years old. You're not getting younger."

"Uncle I don't want love! I want adventure I want action!" she boomed raising her arms up.

"You have been doing that since you were eighteen years old dear. You already lived your dangerous adventures, isn't it time to get settle and start a life?" Kazumi sighed. "Don't you want a family?"

Mikan sat up straight now. She dared to send a glare to her uncle. "My life is great the way it is uncle, I love it and I want to continue it until the day that I die and if you're not satisfied with that then I'm afraid you'll be very disappointed." She stood up and marched to the doors. "Now if you excuse me, I must see my three cubs, my _family_."

After her leaving, Kazumi sighed and continued to read his newspaper. "You're exactly like your father, stubborn as a mule." He was able to smile a little.

Mikan walked while musing a quick tone, she opened two glassy and big doors and walked inside quickly closing the doors behind her, she turned around and grinned.

The once garden that was created there was now a jungle, well not a real one but Mikan made sure to construct everything to look like one.

The weather, the ambient, the animals and even the tall threes, everything was real - everything had to be perfect for the four weeks old tiger cubs.

"Zaria, Shunda, Shine!" she called facing the jungle, moments later three cubs came out from the tall vegetation roaring in content, Mikan kneeled down and she let them glomp her, she was already used to their claws, they were sharp and most of her clothes was ruined and she couldn't count how many scratches she had on her body, the cubs couldn't control their sharp and dangerous claws and Mikan just had to deal with that.

"Let's see if you guys hunted something good." She said while standing up and walking towards the trees, of course that the cubs followed her right under her feet, like she had a tail.

The jungle that she created was enormous, Mikan had to walk some good ten minutes between dense vegetation, trees and she had to cross a small river where she had taught the cubs how to fish the local tuna and many more species.

Shine roared in help for her mother, she got her paw stuck between two rocks and she was being left behind, Mikan hurriedly halted at her and gently unstuck the tiny white paw of the youngest cub, feeling that she was still sad Mikan patted her head and chuckled when Shine's siblings easily growled in jealously and climbed Mikan's legs to be patted too.

"I love all of you, no need to be so feisty and jealous."

The walk continued and Mikan finally reached the den where she choose for the cubs to sleep, it was under a massive rock that looked like a pyramid, it has a vast of long herbs falling down and covering the entrance, like that the cubs were protected from the rain and cold in the winter and they could drag their food to eat peacefully.

As for milk, Mikan had to give them that. She had a machine made by a very close friend that allowed Mikan to pour milk inside and then it would only open when it was time for them to drink, which was at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and lastly 11pm. It would be open for thirty minutes and there was enough for all the three cubs, to avoid any fights.

Mikan frowned to the sight, there were only small dead mices and a rabbit, it was not enough meat for them, she turned at them with the hands on the waist, they stared at her curiously.

"There's more than mices and rabbits around here guys. There are lizards, pythons, berries, pigs or even fishes!" Mikan knew it was all the cycle of life.

For now she would get small animals that the baby cubs could take, but it was a matter of years, two years to be exact for them to start to feed on cows and deer, even bears or elephants. Mikan had to start preparing herself for that. It's not like she was killing all those animals, she was releasing them into their natural habitat and let the nature work, her baby cubs were hunting, their prey was not given in a silver plate already cut to be eaten.

Oh no, Mikan didn't want them to get used to a domestic life because if that happened they wouldn't live in the real wild.

"Are you guys even satisfied?"

The response was Shine rolling on the grass and her siblings jump on her to play, Mikan sighed but she soon sat on a close rock and took some shots to add later on the blog. Her blog was insane but very popular, many people supported her and others thought that what she was doing was blasphemy, and don't even mention PETA annoying her all the time.

But Mikan being Mikan she didn't give a single crap about the negativity.

Suddenly something licked her cheek and she gasped in surprise, Zaria was rubbing her head against her neck while purring, Mikan grabbed her and placed her on the lap.

The brunette looked at the blue sky and smiled, she couldn't be happier than this, she didn't need a man or who knows a woman for her life, her life was fine in the way that it was.

Right?

* * *

Natsume glared at the blue sky, his life was the crappiest thing ever.

But he couldn't do anything about it, he could only try to relax on the garden's bench and look at the sky for his thoughts.

"Natsume-nii!"

Or not.

He glanced over the woman that sweetly grinned at him; she had a short silky raven hair and two big friendly crimson eyes. She was dressed with a beautiful plain purple V-neck dress and black heels; she also carried a magazine on her hand.

"Aoi, I thought you were wasting your time on getting fat with the buffet at the wedding reception." He smiled annoyed.

She rolled her eyes and shoved the thick magazine on his chest making the sharp crimson eyed man make an 'uff' sound.

"What the hell?" he complained sending a glare at it, Natsume read the words on the cover and sat up straighter. "National Geographic? Why are you giving me this crap?"

"Page fifteen Natsume-nii." She simply said with a small teasing smile.

"I told you to stop calling me that 17 years ago monkey. What's this?" his eyes looked all over the page, he noticed a brunette holding three tiger cubs close to her and smiling, he stared at the picture for a little, she wasn't ugly persay.

"South African wildlife photographer Mikan Yukihira?" he read the first line of the long article and arched an eyebrow at his little sister. "Why the hell are you showing me this?"

Aoi stood up. "Just read everything, you'll find it interesting." She giggled.

Natsume glared at the back of his sister when she walked away with a smirk.

He hated to be left with a lot of questions, he just sighed in frustration and loose up the tie around the neck, god he hated weddings.

Natsume started to read then, with nothing to do.

With every word that he read he started to go more interested, more and more. Until he read that this woman had really adopted the three abandoned cubs as hers, and she has a white tiger.

"Will you look at that." He mused smugly.

This woman was really interesting, she was friends with wild animals, spent most of her life taking pictures of them and now she was the progenitor of three tiger cubs and one of them was white, a specie in danger.

This was awfully interesting for him.

Dr. Natsume Hyuuga, a tiger expert that worked for National Geographic.

You don't see a white tiger everyday don't you? Maybe it was time to visit a certain brunette.

* * *

**Author's corner: I'm sorry if I'm breaking the law on anything here D: **

**Attention: I'M NOT STEALING; THE ARTICLE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, ONLY THE PLOT.**

**NOT STEALING QAQ **

**So should I continue? C:**

**Reviews help!**

**Stay tuned!**


	2. Important Note!

Hey guys I just wanted to say that right now I can't upload because I don't have any kind of internet, I'm writing right now from my computer class! I'm really sorry and thank you for all the reviews!


	3. The tiger expert!

Since his twelve years of age the only thing that fascinated Natsume was the big cats. That's right, the other children of his age were more interested in action figures or playing sports with each other he had spend most of his life on learning everything about the felines, something about them made Natsume happy and at the age of twenty-two he departed on an adventure to Africa, where he stayed inside the heart of the country's forest to watch the magnificent beasts, he watched them hunt, he watched them play and he even watched murder. Natsume Hyuuga lived on a Jackalberry tree for three years and he had camouflaged himself with it, without being spotted the young man was able to view Africa in peace and the photography's that he took were mentally unable to understand.

He had taken photos of two tiger cubs being protected by their progenitor from a wild bobcat, he had watched those two cubs grow strong and he had watched them hunt to themselves. Natsume understood that in Africa or either you ate or you were eaten and he learned that by watching one of the cubs killing its brother because of a ambulant walking meat, it had been sad for him but Natsume never let the feelings took over his body.

He came back to civilization when he was twenty-five years old and he was received respectfully and after many explanations to the world he became Doctor. Natsume Hyuuga, a tiger expert and he soon gained a job at National Geographic.

It's not that he wasn't happy with all that, because he really wasn't. Natsume didn't wanted that much attention, it was becoming ridiculous at the point where he had gained the attention of females that couldn't give two shits about tigers or more, if they could even spell the word. He opened his e-mail to see picture of women dressed in tiger outfits begging in to 'cure them', it was utterly disgusting and after five years of taking all that shitty situation he decided to stay in a low profile for a while, and also away from women since his romantic life was more than terrible. He now was more concentrated on his friends and family.

And he started by attending his best friend's wedding. Ruka Nogi was without any doubt the only child that Natsume got along with in his childhood, their friendship began in middle school when Ruka was a transferred student from France. When Natsume and Ruka found out that both had a soft spot for animals they quickly developed a friendship that nobody could understand, because Ruka was so sweet and charming and Natsume was the cold and rude scary kid.

That friendship lasted twenty-eight years and until today it still lives, even when Ruka announced to the raven haired man that he was about to marry and heartless witch called Hotaru Imai. He didn't understand that, her parents owned a CORP. that used technology and that made more holes in the ozone than the stupid pollution itself. But Ruka said that the woman was nothing like her parents, she was going to start a new kind of technology, a biological one.

It was more than a 'if it makes you happy then it makes me happy too' thing for an answer that Natsume gave.

Speaking of family, his sister was only a year and seven months younger than him. Aoi Hyuuga was a beautiful, kind and genius actress that had started her career at the age of twenty-one. Her career lifted off when he was still in Africa and he had wished to be there and support her, Aoi never forgot to mention his name every time she got an award and he did the same when he received his Nobel award.

More than Ruka and Aoi and strangely Hotaru, there were still other people that Natsume considered friends, except one.

Luna Koizumi.

That woman in Africa would have been the snake that nobody would ever to hunt or even to approach; she was what Natsume liked to call "Black Widow", because she would only sleep with a rich man and suck the money out of his soul and when satisfied she would just simply leave that man and attack her next prey. Natsume concluded that he had been one of those poor preys but he was smart enough to run away from the vile creature and stay away from her lips covered with venom words that lied with such sweet voice.

Luna scared Natsume shitless and like an intelligent tiger he opted to get the hell away from it and not even smell such creature ever again. Not that he had of course.

Going back to the brunette South African wildlife photographer, he still needed to know where she lived. He really wanted to see that white tiger cub badly and just observe it.

"Shine?" he read the words below the cub.

He had to admit that it was a good name and that the female cub was adorable, but she seemed weaker than her brothers and that should mean trouble for the cub in the future, he twisted his tongue on his teeth and stood up. He rolled the magazine on his hand like he was about to kill a mosquito and he walked towards the wedding reception, Ruka's wedding. Natsume was still trying to believe in that; he spotted his sister chatting chirpily with Youichi, he four-year boyfriend that Natsume had already accepted.

Without any mercy he hit her head with the rolled magazine and she squealed in shock.

"Ow! What was that for?" she growled, going a little out of character.

He glared down at his sister and handed her the magazine again. "You'll pay for this."

After realizing what he meant, Aoi gave one of her famous cute little smiles. "I don't know what you're talking about Natsume-nii." She used a teasing tone on her velvet voice.

He sighed, "I'm only interesting in the cubs, tell Ruka that I had to leave for an emergency." He turned around to leave that massive tent, but before he stepped he shot a deathly glare to his sister. "Aoi?"

"Yes?"

"Stop trying to be a matchmaker."

"Never." She giggled.

**A/N: *CRIES***

**Olé, just explaining Natsume's life until now c:**

**The ages if you're confused:**

**Mikan: **29 years old.**  
Natsume: **30 years old.**  
Aoi: **29 years old.**  
Ruka: **30 years old.**  
Hotaru: **30 years old.  
**Kazumi: **58 years old.  
**Luna: **27 years old.


End file.
